The Definition of Success on Saipan was not Lack of Casualties

There is a lot of talk suddenly that the surge will fail because Muqtadr will call off his cease fire.
We failed to get rid of him and his murderers even from the very beginning, in 2003 with the murder of Abdel Majid al-Khoei, Shiite leader, in a move reminiscent of Massoud's demise.

I am not going to go into the inimical nature and acts of this miscreant, and hater of real freedom, and everything american, and I am certain, a believer in najas. However, we can be certain that if such as he, take advantage of a cease fire with americans it can be for only one of two reasons. He must believe if he does not he is a dead man, or that he can acquire strength in postponing the day of action. Sound familiar? I thought so.

Now comes Mclatchy and other outlets claiming:

Is 'success' of U.S. surge in Iraq about to unravel?

BAGHDAD -- A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.

This assumes that, like peace between HAMAS and any non Muslim, non dhimmi entity, there was some way to achieve security in Iraq while Al Sadr and his militia live. Sadr's death and his militia being CRUSHED are central to the future peace and security of Iraq (and perhaps more).

On Sunday, a barrage of at least 17 rockets hit the heavily fortified Green Zone and surrounding neighborhoods, where both the U.S. and Iraqi government headquarters are housed, according to police. Most of them were launched from the outskirts of Sadr City and Bayaa, both Mahdi Army-controlled neighborhoods.

On Monday, the Sadrists all but shut down the neighborhoods they control on the west bank of Baghdad. Gunmen went to stores and ordered them to close as militiamen stood in the streets. Mosques used their loudspeakers to urge people to come forward and join the protest.

Fliers were distributed with the Sadrists' three demands of the Iraqi government: to release detainees, stop targeting Sadrist members and apologize to the families and the tribal sheiks of the men.

The Iraqi security forces issued a statement promising to deal with those who terrorized shopkeepers and students.

"It's an open sit-in until the government responds to our demands. If the government doesn't respond, we will have our own procedures," said Hamdallah al Rikabi, the head of the Sadr offices in Karkh, in western Baghdad.

Could the situation be any more clear?

Bismarck in reverse. The war and crushing the enemy is politics by other means. Politics are determined by the results on the battlefield.

Time for Sadr and his militia. We have only postponed the pain.

Obama's people are smiling, I think. Think any republicans were looking for high casualties on Saipan in 1944 to oust FDR for his conduct of the war? They WERE high. What was said? I can find no references. An open question and one worth knowing.

In the weeks before the election, this battle cost 3425 killed, and 16525 casualties. Success can not be defined by lack of casualties.

However, the bitter reality now, is that the Iraqi govt is about to undergo a major test with Sadr, and if they do not succeed without major American casualties (100+) this nation will elect someone who will ensure that there are no Americans around to BECOME casualties. And that is something our opponents WELL KNOW

The U.S. does not have the stomach for a long conflict and will soon revert to its traditional policy of "running away," leaving Afghanistan and Iraq, indeed the whole of the Middle East

The Western powers, especially the United States, still wield immense military and economic power that looks formidable on paper. But they are unable to use that power because their populations have become risk-averse. The Western man today has no stomach for a fight. This phenomenon is not new: All empires produce this type of man, the self-centered, materialist, and risk-averse man. - The Iranian strategic analyst, Hassan Abassi, Director of the Center for Security Doctrines Research of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)